Board Thread:Classic DMC/@comment-2001:8003:102F:9500:1066:15B2:B1CC:F1BC-20170917120147

This is just a theory, I'm no psychologist.

Having witnessed the death of their mother at the age of eight has impacted Dante and Vergil psychologically in different degrees. For Dante, depending on which rendition of the story was either hidden or saw his mother's death - as a result, he displays some behaviours such as drinking heavily as a substance abuse: in the first volume he competes in a drinking competition until he passes out and was a frequent visitor to the dive-bar Bobby's Cellar.

He tends to stick to his own company, being a bit of a loner. The first volume mentions that "Tony didn't date for any significant length of time", perhaps suggesting that he has no interest in long-term dating, but will participate in short flings with women he finds interesting. This could be to avoid getting deeply attached or a lack of knowledge on how to develop deep relationships, since people have come and gone from his life so frequently throughout his history. Making friendships isn't excluded from this, either. He could be pessimistic in his thinking having seen so much death.

Yet, Dante still displays an ability to feel empathy and remorse. Instead of killing Trish, he rescues her and he has claimed to never killing a full-blooded human. Despite the trauma, he hasn't demonstrated any psychopathic tendencies (except perhaps to demon-folk). He has empathy and can feel sad; he cries in the first game when Trish is presumed dead, and is generally ready to help someone in need.

Vergil, on the other hand, shows more of a psychopathic side than Dante does. Kidnapped in the first novel's rendition and his whereabouts unknown in the game-canon - some pretty horrible things could have happened to him that we (as an audience) have not seen. Mentally vulnerable at that age, he has learned a distached personality. He's been hurt and only knows how to hurt in return. Even more of a loner than Dante, to the point he has isolated himself from social contact. There hasn't been any demonstration of remorse from Vergil. In the manga, there is a woman beside Arkham and she is executed by Vergil for a reason unknown. In the third game, he doesn't seem to be phased about "killing" Dante off.

As an allegory, Vergil's corruption by Mundus could be seen as this psychopathic nature consuming him, while Dante was able to fight him off and seal him away. Both of them fend off demons, but Vergil surrenders himself to the demonic-side of himself, and Dante refuses to give-in, choosing death before his surrender.

Trish's role in Dante's life would have improved his mental state significantly. She is a swiss-army friend, being that of a motherly-figure in her resemblence to Eva, a close friend, and a sisterly presence.

There's definitely more that can be covered (or uncovered),

Do respond with more thoughts :-) 